We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Continue' we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you will not see this message again. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Binocular vision adventures

Welcome

Our research would be impossible without the help of volunteers. We are especially interested in including volunteers with binocular vision problems (i.e. 'can't see 3D movies', 'wore eye patch as a child'). Please visit our 'Want to help?' section if you want to find out more information on how to participate in our research, or directly follow this link to register as a potential volunteer.

Binocular rivalry

The image above should be viewed with red-green glasses. If you open only your left or right eye, can you see either the leftwards tilted lines or the rightwards tilted lines? Either the big circle or the small circle? Now if you open both your eyes, your vision will alternate between these two percepts. That is because your brain cannot combine images that are too different between your eyes. Instead of mixing the image shown to your eyes into one image, you see alternating through your left or your right eye. This is called binocular rivalry.

Stereoscopic depth perception

Your eyes usually like to work together. In the next image, you can see how nice it can be.

This above photograph was made by NASA scientists from the Pathfinder mission. It shows the surface of Mars. While we cannot stand on Mars ourselves yet, we can appreciate its geography by seeing the landscape in depth using the stereoscopic cue called 'binocular disparity'. Binocular disparity is the only cue we need to see in stereoscopic depth.

Brain activity to binocular depth

Our research investigates what goes on in the brain when binocular disparity is processed. The above image shows a persons brain while seeing depth with two eyes. The red spots on the brain shows regions that liked what the person was seeing. You can see that quite a large area was active. Using activity maps like this, we can attempt to piece together how the brain works.

Public outreach events

June 2015

We helped to run an exhibit called "Your Changing Brain: from Neurons to Nerf Guns" at the Science Museum Lates and the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in London. Our exhibit demonstrated binocular vision and how the brain learns.

If you took part in our experiment, "Can the Crowd Beat the Vision Expert?", and have any questions or would like to find out more about this, please visit the Krug Lab Website or contact Professor Kristine Krug.

March 2015

We talked to families and pupils about seeing and the brain. You may have seen one of our flyers!

If you have taken part in our binocular rivalry self-portrait, follow this link